The present invention relates to mechanisms for holding the heads of a hard disk drive away from the disks when the disk drive is not in operation.
The heads used in a hard disk drive are attached to the end of a head arm and are above the disks of the disk drive. In operation, the heads ride on a cushion of air generated by the rapid spinning of the disks so that the heads will not actually touch the disks. When the disk drive is not in operation, it is desirable to move the heads away from the disks so that the disks will not be damaged by the disk drive being bumped and moved about while being transported.
One way to lift a head from a disk is to use a mechanism on the head arm itself. Such a mechanism is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,294 to Meier, et al. Meier shows a head assembly whih includes a spring-like lift bail mounted on the head assembly. By extending a finger forward to contact the rear end of the lift bail, a spring action causes the front end of the head arm containing the head to raise up.
Another head lifting method is shown in U. S. Pat. No. 3,984,873 to Pejcha. In the Pejcha device, a pair of head arms extend past the head and are forced into a U-shaped member, which, by a scraping motion as the arm is forced into the member, causes the arms to move away from the disks.
Another mechanism is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,646,536 to Bleiman. Bieiman shows a pair of wings 30, 31 which use a twisting movement to scrape against the head arms and force them away from the disks.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,218,714 to Isozaki shows a mechanism for lifting a head in a floppy disk drive. The two nead arms of Isozaki are coupled at adjacent ends so that when one head arm is lifted it causes the other head arm to lift away from the disk. The first head arm is lifted by an arm extending under the head arm. The lifting arm is pivoted through the use of a spring connected to the other end of tne lifting arm. The head arm is released by the use of an electric magnet which pulls the lifting arm down against the force of the spring.